County: Longford Site name: TERMONBARRY WEIR, CLOONDARA
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 05E1071
Author: Kieran Campbell, for Donal Boland, Cushcallow, Banagher, Co. Offaly.
Site type: 19th-century weir and fish pass
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 606308m, N 775720m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.731103, -7.904392
Monitoring and recording took place during demolition and excavation work associated with the construction of a hydro-electric generating plant at Termonbarry Weir on the River Shannon. The weir, with six sluice gates, a salmon pass, an eel pass and a boat lock, was constructed in the 1840s by the Shannon Commissioners as part of the Shannon Navigation works. The development site was situated on the eastern, Co. Longford, side of the river in the townland of Cloondara.
The development necessitated the demolition of the fish pass and a 45m length of the weir. The fish pass and weir were recorded in scale drawings and photographs both before and after drying of the river inside a coffer dam and during demolition. Pre-development riverbank and riverbed surveys were carried out by Donal Boland under licence numbers 05R145/05D114.
The weir was a substantial structure, in section 5.5m wide and 2.75m high, faced with massive limestone blocks on a rubble and concrete core. The fish pass, set at right angles in the weir, measured 8.4m long, 3m wide and 3m high. A funnelled entrance at the downstream end gave access for salmon as they moved upriver. The interior had a sloping paved floor divided into four compartments by stone sills with gaps for the fish to pass. Monitoring took place during the demolition of the weir and fish pass when the stones were individually removed using a block grab and stockpiled on the riverbank for reuse by Waterways Ireland. Natural subsoil was exposed below the site of the weir, with nothing further of archaeological interest being found.
